Why Joe Biden Is Preparing $1,400 Stimulus Checks Despite Promising $2,000

US Vice President Joe Biden smiles as he speaks at Ledra palace in the UN-patrolled Buffer
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty

President-elect Joe Biden plans to announce a $1,400 personal stimulus check for individuals on Thursday despite voters expecting a $2,000 check as promised.

Reuters reports Biden will announce a massive $1.5 trillion spending program which will include $1,400 stimulus checks.

That might surprise Americans who expected a $2,000 check promised by Biden and Democrats on the campaign trail for the Senate runoff election in Georgia.

Defenders of the president-elect argue his $2,000 promise included the $600 checks, making the new checks $1,400.

But Biden joined Congressional Democrat leaders in late December and early January repeatedly calling for $2,000 stimulus checks even after the $600 checks were sent out.

President Donald Trump first proposed the idea of $2,000 stimulus checks on December 22 while expressing his frustration with Republicans for paring down the checks to $600.

The president ultimately signed the legislation including the $600 checks on December 27, but that did not stop the Biden team from promising $2,000 checks, in the following days.

“That’s literally true. If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $2000 checks will go out the door … That money that will go out the door immediately,” Biden told voters at a campaign rally in Georgia on January 4.

On Sunday, Biden again called for $2,000 stimulus checks on Twitter.

“$600 is simply not enough when you have to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table,” he wrote on Twitter. “We need $2,000 stimulus checks.”

The Biden team never clarified whether the $2000 promise included the $600 already authorized under the law Trump signed, as many Democrat supporters expected the money to be in addition to the earlier stimulus.

Thus, the new round of stimulus money that Biden will announce Thursday will be $1,400; smaller than many Americans expected.

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